Is your phone answered?

I was at a seminar recently on sales and marketing and the following facts were given.  And, these facts weren’t just generic: they were the result of the company ringing their own client base between 8.30am and 9.00am.

18% were answered, 43% had an answerphone pickup, and 39% just rang.

Further, at least half of those answered by the answerphone made the caller never want to call back!

So, this is my question – how much business are you losing by having a bad answerphone message for your business or simply because no one answers the phone?

By having your phone answered well, you could improve sales significantly, without any effort or extra cost.

If your phone is left ringing, make sure it isn’t.  And, listen to your answerphone message now.  If it doesn’t make you want to call back, make you feel welcome, change it today!  It’s a five minute job.  Promise me that you will do it today!

Why not let me know in a couple of weeks time how much your call rate has increased?

My Story

My name is David Wimblett and I live in Chilworth, Surrey with my wife and we have four grown-up sons.

My background

I started my first business as a 21 year old in printing and have always run my own businesses since. Although, at times, it has been very hard work and even challenging, I love the freedom and variety it has given me, as well as the rewards.

Marketing, I soon discovered, was key if I was to have a successful business and so over the years I have become skilled in that area.

I have worked with the Entrepreneur’s Circle as a Business Growth Advisor providing Mastermind meetings, networking and monthly workshops on all areas of business; marketing being a key component of our offering.

As a Director Consultant for BNI I have helped 100s of business owners to grow their businesses by giving them support, training and mentoring. I have run workshops on networking skills, marketing, presentation skills, goal setting, leadership skills and team building.

I have published two books on networking and business.

As a business mentor I firmly believe that everybody in business should have a business mentor, certainly at some point, someone who has done what they are doing already; someone that has learnt from being in business themselves. I help my clients with real practical knowledge that works, gained from over 30 years of working for myself.

Hobbies and interests

I have so many! Skiing and sailing I love. But I also enjoy karting, football, basketball, tennis, photography, cooking, walking, riding my bikes and writing. I have written two business books and one children’s book. Currently I am trying to learn to play the drums.

My goals

One of my biggest goals was to own a classic car. I recently achieved this and now have a beautiful 1965 Ford Mustang Fastback.

I have a target of raising £1000 next year for the British Heart Foundation.

Long term goals are easy; as it’s to enjoy life as I have always done. Which I hope will include skiing, at my favourite resort Les Deux Alpes, in March, sailing for a couple of weeks in September off Corfu, travelling to new places and to ride on the Darjeeling Railway.

 

 

Welcome…

Thank you for finding my blog; I hope you enjoy reading it and also find it useful.

So why am I writing a business blog?

In answer to that, I guess I need to start at the beginning. I’ve never been one for lots of rules and taking orders from other people. I know it’s a fact of life and at some point we all have to, but I wanted to minimise these things as much as I possibly could and so at the age of 21 I started my first business.

As both my business and my commitments grew (a mortgage and a growing family) so did the rules and having to do what others say. But I still wanted to ‘play’ a little at business and at the same time earn some extra money for the fun things I wanted that my mortgage payments wouldn’t let me have, and so I’ve always been involved with other businesses; mostly successful but some not so.

Building businesses successfully from scratch, coupled with the knowledge gained of other business sectors, has given me not only a great deal of enjoyment but also invaluable practical experiences.

I now concentrate on providing support, marketing advice, networking know-how, plus a wide-range of other business learning. Often this leads to mentoring and consultancy.

And, that is why I’m writing this blog because business owners might just find my ideas and experience pretty useful.